Sunday, 30 November 2014

Epic Fail by Claire Lazebnik

My thoughts:

A
modern day story retelling of the famous classic, Pride and Prejudice, Epic
fail captures the tone and sentiments of a seventeen years old Elize. The story
is narrated in her tongue.

Frankly,
I read the book not knowing it was a retelling. I picked it up because the
title and cover captured my attention. Both gave the idea that the book would
be a light, contemporary, young adult-ish read.

When I
googled the author and the book to gauge on more details about the characters I
fell in love with, I discovered the truth. And then I traced back, stunned at
the obvious plot plucked out of Austin land and my lack of ability to recognise
the screaming resemblance.

Plot in short:

Elise
Benton, the rational, prejudiced and daddy’s favourite of all Benton sister was
a younger shadow of Elizabeth Bennet. Derek’s character was moulded to fit
modern day shy, standoffish Darcy. Charming but wicked Webster was twisted to
form an epitome of Wikham. A poor family of four sister and two parents, a Chase
(Mr. Bingley, who falls for the oldest, modest sister of all), a
pain-the-the-arse sister to mess up things and the prejudices based on classes
and who is who was captured well to fit the taste the younger audience.

Why you should read it:

The
plot is same, the characters have more or less exact same personalities, even
the names match. What stood out were the High School setting, tone and the modern
twist to almost all events that took place.

In a
way I was glad I plunged into the story without pre-knowing it was a retelling.
It just made the entire experience more authentic for me.

But even
if you’re not an Austinite, you should read this. It’s not exactly the kind of
book that will linger in your mind for days, but it sure will make you stay up
late till you finish it and make you want to root for main characters.